The invention relates to a transport device for sample holders with medical specimens according to the preamble of claim 1.
German Patent No. 4,117,833 C2 discloses a device for staining histological preparations arranged on microscope slides. With this device, a matrix arrangement of treatment stations is provided and can be approached by a triaxial control. Multiple treatment operations can also be performed simultaneously with different staining programs in parallel.
To prevent contamination of the treatment stations with treatment reagents from other treatment stations, the microscope slide holders, after leaving one treatment station with liquid reagents, are conveyed to the next treatment station over a separate drip zone. The drip zone is arranged as a water carrying chamber between two parallel rows of treatment stations. Therefore, the time needed for dripping can also be utilized for conveyance.
However, the space required by the drip zone limits the possibility of accommodating additional treatment stations in the same base area.
The object of the invention is to improve on a transport device for sample holders with medical preparations such that contamination of the treatment stations with treatment reagents from other treatment stations is prevented without separate drip zones.
This object is achieved with a transport device according to the preamble of claim 1 by the features given in the characterizing part.
Refinements and advantageous embodiments are derived from the subclaims.
In the design according to the present invention, the collecting device is always entrained together with the carriage holding the hoisting device, so that the collecting device requires very little space. The space required previously by the separate drip zone is eliminated, and it is either possible to have additional treatment stations occupy the area taken up previously by the drip zone or, if the number of different treatment stations is kept the same, they may be accommodated more compactly. Furthermore, the sample holder may be conveyed in the direction of all axes at the same time. This permits a great reduction in transport times, which has an especially favorable effect when there are staining programs running in parallel, sometimes with very short dwell times of the preparations in the treatment stations.
A more compact accommodation of the treatment stations also has the advantage that the autosampler can be reduced in size and thus the transport paths can be shortened. This leads to a further reduction in transport times.
The collecting device may be designed as a collecting pan which can be swivelled vertically or horizontally relative to the hoisting device. In addition or as an alternative, the hoisting device may also be swivelled vertically or horizontally relative to the collecting pan. This design is characterized by an especially simple bearing arrangement.
Furthermore, the collecting device may also be designed as a collecting pan which can be moved horizontally relative to the hoisting device. In addition or as an alternative, the hoisting device may also be movable horizontally relative to the collecting pan. This permits a reduction in vertical space required for the collecting device.
The collecting device can be designed to be especially space saving if the collecting pan is made of a flexible material. Then, when it is moved, the collecting pan can be simply deflected from the vertical starting position to the horizontal collecting position.
The collecting pan may also include a liquid reservoir. This may be designed as a trough or a sponge. When designed as a trough, the liquid reservoir can be emptied automatically from time to time. The sponge design, however, is more suitable for manual emptying. However, it has the advantage that no collected fluid can splash out during rapid movements.
The hoisting device preferably includes a vibrating device which may be implemented, for example, by rapidly changing the direction of movement of the hoisting device. Thus, the dripping process can be accelerated and intensified so that, even with short transport paths, there need be no waiting time until the sample holder can be turned over to the next treatment station.
The coupling element can also be swivelled into a coupled position and a release position by means of a separate coupling drive. The coupling and uncoupling operations can be accelerated in this way.